I have always been slightly mystified by "white balance", and I don't think I've ever moved the setting off the default one of AWB on any camera I've used. Camera manuals are singularly unhelpful as they simply show you how to set it, but not why! Now finally I understand! The idea of white balance is to adjust for the odd colour casts that might result from taking photographs in artificial lighting / shadows / Cloudy skies etc.
"White" objects will appear yellow under artificial light. This can be offset by using the White balance "incandescent" setting. This injects more blue into the image to offset the tungsten yellow. Similarly cloudy conditions can result in grey whites which can be adjusted for using the "cloudy" white balance setting.
As a demonstration here are three images of our studio naked torso "Bob". Bob is a grey silver colour, just about life size but somewhat lacking in the limbs and head department. These photographs were taken without a flash but with the aid of a "modelling" light.
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| "Bob" taken with the AWB setting. f22. 1/30th. ISO 1600 |
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| "Bob" taken with the incandescent White Balance. f22. 1/30th. ISO 6400 |
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"Bob at "Cloudy". f22. 1/8th. ISO 6400Studio Lighting
This is called an "Infinity Cove" which is an all-white space with no corners, designed to give the impression that the background of an object extends to infinity. The white background allows for a range of coloured lighting using jells (coloured transparent plastic) and various other modifiers,
A lower level brightness "modelling" light is initially used to gauge where lighting would be most appropriate. This modelling light contains a booster flash which is synchronised with the camera via a hot shoe dongle (wireless /blue tooth?) . This provides a very bright light. The more expensive the lighting the faster it is to recharge.
There are five key elements to lighting to take in to consideration ...
Modifiers such as honeycomb light modifier. This can be used as a spotlight, but can be used to produce a brighter or more diffuse light by using different honeycomb thicknesses
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The beauty dish, a light source with a narrow 45° beam spread. When used close to the subject, the narrow beam spread allows a more selective area of coverage.
These, plus various other lights can be arranged in almost infinite variety. However, there are a few "classic" light settings.
Split lighting, Short lighting, Broad lighting, Butterfly lighting, Loop lighting, High key and Low key being just a few.
If you want to know more about lighting and have access to or room for a studio then have a look at this website..
Rembrandt lighting
There are numerous photographers who are well known for their use of lighting. If you want to see more then I'd recommend you follow one or more of these links.
Experimentally lighting blueberries, forks and wine
So ... lighting! As an experiment I tried setting up a little"studio" in our dining room. However resources are scarce! I have an angle poise light, room lights a few torches and a candle or two.
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| "Fork handles" at f5, 2 seconds exposure (using a tripod and remote shutter release) and ISO of 200. 28mm focal lengh
Any connection between this picture and a famous "Two Ronnies" sketch was altogether completely accidental! (Especially as I've never been a fan ... with perhaps the exception of this one sketch.)
The odd painting with the eyes had been stored behind this glass topped unit for some time. Quite serendipitous considering I was attempting to take a reflecting picture of arranged forks and blueberries to look like a pair of eyes! I shot the above in a darkened room lit only by four candles reflecting off a white table top to the right. I did not twig the "fork handles" connection until much later. Here the white balance is set at a cool 2500K. I used a cheap wind up bluish LED light to illuminate the picture. |
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